“I’m just British—normal British”: Exploring Teachers’ and Pupils’ Conceptualisations of Religion(s) and Religious Belonging

Benoit, Céline

Abstract

This article seeks to foreground the voices of primary school teachers and children—often silenced in research—and explore how they understand religion(s) and religious belonging. The findings draw on qualitative data investigating the narratives of teachers and pupils from five primary community schools in the West Midlands (England). The research shows that religious traditions in contemporary Religious Education classes still tend to be constructed as un-diverse, impermeable, monolithic wholes as teachers rely on the dominant World Religions Paradigm. As religions as lived tend to be ignored, children find it difficult to situate themselves within debates and conversations pertaining to religion(s) and religious diversity and consequently tend to speak about ‘others’ and imagined ‘them’. As a result, most children believe that RE is learning about the ‘Other’ and tend to construct ‘world religions’ as un-British. The article concludes that, overall, RE fails to challenge static representations of religion(s) and rigid categorisations and that the subject ought to offer alternative representations of religious beliefs and practices by foregrounding the lived realities of children and religious communities.

Citation

Benoit, C. (2021). “I’m just British—normal British”: Exploring Teachers’ and Pupils’ Conceptualisations of Religion(s) and Religious Belonging. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 36(2), 311-328. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2021.1958493

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 1, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Sep 8, 2021
• Publication Date: May 4, 2021
• Deposit Date: Nov 15, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 19, 2024
• Journal: Journal of Contemporary Religion
• Print ISSN: 1353-7903
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9419
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 311-328
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2021.1958493
• Keywords: Boundary drawing -- Religious belonging -- Religious Education -- (mis)representation of religious traditions -- Primary education
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/41931760
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13537903.2021.1958493
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=cjcr20; Received: 2018-04-30; Accepted: 2019-09-01; Published: 2021-09-08